Execution Log – 10/22/12-10/28/12: 10/23,Ferguson,FL; 10/24,Hines,TX

This log includes information about one execution scheduled for next week, 10/22/12-10/28/12. Here are copies of the e-mails I sent to people in states with scheduled executions asking them to intervene. Please e-mail, phone or fax appeals of your own. You are welcome to cut & paste.

I ask you, Governor Scott, to stop your state’s execution of John Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson is scheduled to be poisoned to death by the government of the state of Florida next Tuesday, 10/23/12, for the 1977 murders of Henry Clayton, Randolph Holmes, Michael Miller, Charles Stinson, Livingston Stocker and Gilbert Williams.

John Ferguson was diagnosed over forty years ago, and many times since, with paranoid schizophrenia. He acknowledges that he participated in the murders with two accomplices, but he also believes that the reason he is being executed is because he is the Prince of God. The United States Supreme Court barred the execution of a defendant who has a ‘fundamental failure to appreciate the connection’ between his crimes and his execution. The Florida Supreme Court erred fatally when it determined that merely the ‘awareness’ of the crime and punishment was enough to qualify the defendant for death. Governor Scott, as Chief Executive of Florida you are required to step in to impose the law of the land; you must stop the execution of John Ferguson.

Former Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, as well as myriads of scholars, can find no evidence that the death penalty deters capital crimes. In fact, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison believes that the death penalty exacerbates the violence in his facility by setting an example of cold-blooded killing. Recent studies show that the largest increase in capital crimes is in Texas, the state which executes the most people. As for vengeance, that is the Lord’s, not the governments.

Please, Governor Scott, stop this killing of John Ferguson. If this execution goes forward, look around this country for the black armbands worn, and the church bells tolled, in protest of this injustice.

I ask you, Governor Perry, to stop your state’s execution of Bobby Lee Hines. Mr. Hines is scheduled to be poisoned to death by the government of Texas next Wednesday, 10/24/12, for the 1992 murder of Michelle Wendy Haupt.

Booby Lee Hines has not yet received the fair trial that the constitution of the United States of America guarantees him. The state introduced illegal testimony about his prior arrest for rape, of which he was acquitted. Mr. Hines has been diagnosed with lifelong learning disabilities and emotional disturbance. Evidence of his nightmarish childhood of chronic abuse at the hands of, first a drunken father, and later a string of foster homes, was never even submitted by his attorneys. Governor Perry, you must stay this execution to allow time for your state to catch up to the requirements of humanity and the laws of our land!

Former Attorney General of the United States Janet Reno, as well as myriads of scholars, can find no evidence that the death penalty deters capital crimes. In fact, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison believes that the death penalty exacerbates the violence in his facility by setting an example of cold-blooded killing. Recent studies show that the largest increase in capital crimes is in the state of Texas, the state which executes the most people. As for vengeance, that is the Lord’s, not the government’s.

Please, Governor Perry, stop this killing of Bobby Lee Hines. If this execution goes forward, look around this country for the black armbands worn, and the church bells tolled, in protest of this injustice.